Conditions at the Orleans Parish jail "violate the constitutional rights of inmates, " according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice released Monday that focused on inmate safety and mental health care.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneOrleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman, right, shows Mayor Ray Nagin holding cells in Feb. during a tour inside the newly reopened Orleans Parish Prison. The Justice Department has found that some conditions at the jail are unconstiutional.
Based on three site visits last year, the report found that inmates at Orleans Parish Prison are not sufficiently protected from violence inflicted by other inmates or from "excessive use of force" by prison staff.

The report pointed to problems in medical services at the jail, especially mental health care. The use of restraints on the tier reserved for mentally ill inmates was singled out for criticism, as well as procedures for suicide prevention and dispensing medication to inmates. Other aspects of the medical care meet constitutional mandates, investigators concluded.

Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman, who runs the jail, lambasted the report, saying it doesn't reflect the current reality at the complex or take into account difficulties his agency has faced since Hurricane Katrina. "This report is a terribly dated, fundamentally flawed work done by people who obviously have little appreciation of the tasks facing a city in recovery from the greatest national disaster in this country's history, " Gusman said in a statement.

The investigation was conducted by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which recommended the jail develop better policies for use of force by guards, as well as improve investigations of complaints of abuse. The report also suggested improving the system for classifying inmates, increasing the number of guards and providing better training and supervision.

While praising Gusman and his staff for cooperating during the investigation, the report also noted that the Justice Department can file a lawsuit if the sheriff and city don't address deficiencies.

Sheriff plans to meet feds

While Gusman said he took "great offense" at the report, he added he plans to meet with Justice Department officials. "I am certain . . . we can sit down and resolve those erroneous claims and conclusions and reach an amicable resolution, " he said.

Longtime critics of the jail saw the report as a confirmation of the complaints they hear about the facility, some of which date back before Gusman's tenure as criminal sheriff.

"This is the Department of Justice. They don't undertake these investigations lightly, and they are thorough and cautious in issuing statements, " said Katie Schwartzmann, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana. "At some point, Sheriff Gusman has got to stop attacking his critics and start fixing problems in that jail."

Mary Howell, a civil rights attorney, said the City Council and other city leaders should use the federal report as a guide for change.

Jail violence

The documentation about inmate-on-inmate violence and excessive force by guards in the report is based on jail internal reports, as well as staff and inmate interviews. "We believe that there is a pattern and practice of unnecessary and inappropriate uses of force by OPP correctional officers, " the report stated.

In some cases, the force was retaliatory, such as the case of a guard who beat up an inmate for exposing his genitals to the guard's girlfriend, a female guard. While the report stated the guard was suspended for 14 days, Gusman said he was eventually terminated -- along with other guards who witnessed the incident -- and later faced criminal charges.

However, Gusman could not say whether other examples of abuse cited in the report were referred to the Orleans Parish district attorney for prosecution. Cases are referred to prosecutors upon the recommendation of his agency's disciplinary board, he said.

In one instance in July 2008, a guard severely beat two inmates for more than 10 minutes in view of other officers. That officer, who believed one of the inmates had robbed him, was terminated, as were four others who observed the abuse, the report said. But in another case from September 2007, an officer who initiated a fight with an inmate was only suspended for 90 days.

Use of force criticized

The Justice Department found the Sheriff's Office had substandard policies regarding use of force against inmates, as well as inadequate reporting of incidents for investigation. The report also questioned investigative policies, highlighting one case where an internal affairs investigator failed to talk to an inmate who was beaten by a guard.

Some incidents of violence between inmates could be nipped in the bud by improving the classification system that determines where inmates are housed, the report found. The current system focuses too much on inmates' bonds, not considering prior convictions and violent crime history. Investigators said they also found inmates with different classification levels in the same 10-person cells at the House of Detention, which could lead to predatory inmates taking advantage of weaker inmates.

The complaints about inadequate staffing extended to the medical team providing mental health care. Screeners talking to inmates when they are brought through lock-up too often don't identify existing mental health problems, the report stated.

Inmates on psychotropic and antipsychotic drugs were allowed to administer medication to themselves -- the standard practice for inmates on medication. Investigators found at least two cases resulted in overdoses requiring emergency room visits.

Gusman said the criticisms of mental health care are centered on the staffing levels, which he can't improve without more money.

The report also criticized sanitation in the jail facilities, saying the jail could not provide information about treatment for mice or cockroaches, which were observed during site visits. But Gusman said the jail routinely sprays for these pests, showing a stack of records indicating the treatment.

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Laura Maggi can be reached at lmaggi@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3316.